STOKESAY CASTLE

dered. A desperate effort to recover it was made by the gover-
nor of Ludlow and the ' gallantry of Hereford ', but they were
defeated in a battle on the meadows on the opposite side of the
valley. About a hundred of the Royalists were killed including
c Sir William Croft, the best headpiece and activest man in
that county '. But though Parliament ordered the castle to
be * slighted ', no more was done than the destruction of the
battlements of the north tower. The castle was inhabited by
the Baldwin family until 1706 when it ceased to be a gentle-
man's house and was used for farm buildings until it was re-
paired first by Lord Craven and then by the present owner.

Stokesay at the present time has a charming appearance.
The old gate-house was replaced in Elizabethan times by the
present quaint half-timbered structure over whose archway are
displayed the figures of Adam and Eve and the serpent. This
leads into the courtyard on the opposite side of which stands
the great hall with its open timber roof, the rafters of which
rest on built out corbels. This room was warmed by a central
hearth and has no fire-place. The size and shape of its mul-
lioned windows show clearly that defence was not considered
when they were built. Inside the hall at the north end is a
wooden staircase leading on the first floor to two apartments
known as the priest's rooms and on the upper floor to a well-
lighted room with a fine fire-place. A later half-timbered
addition to this room gives it a distinctive character seen from
without. At the opposite end of the hall are two small rooms
and a cellar. Above, approached by an external stairway is
the solar, or lord's with-drawing room. This has windows

H.HJB.